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Boys Hoops: Damien uses full arsenal to beat Glendora for the second time this season

Got Milk?: Just kidding, Terrell Bolden goes up for two of his 13 points against Glendora.

By Steve Ramirez, Staff WriterLA VERNE – The book on how to beat the Damien High School basketball team says to limit senior guard Chris Adams’ scoring. The book proved to be wrong Wednesday night. Glendora held Adams to seven points. But sophomore center Chris Reyes scored 17 points and senior guard Terrell Bolden had 13 to lead the host Spartans to a 56-34 victory over Glendora in the teams’ Sierra League opener. (To continue reading click thread)

“They did everything they could to not let Chris Adams shoot the ball tonight,” Damien coach Matt Dunn said. “I’ve been telling everyone I could that I think our other guys (can beat) you, if that’s what you want to play.

“The first half it didn’t look like it. But the second half we started to make some shots. Our guys work really hard in making some open shots. It was nice to seem them go in.”

Damien also used a solid defensive effort to limit the Tartans, who made just 12 of 46 shots and were held to just 19 points during the first three quarters.

The Spartans, getting six first-half points from Reyes, held the usually productive Tartans to just four field goals in the opening 16 minutes.

Smith, one of the area’s top returning shooters, had 10 of his 17 in the first half. But he had trouble breaking away from Damien’s box-and-one defense, which limited him to just two field goals in the first half.

“We tried hard,” Dunn said. “(Smith) is a great player, and it’s no secret. Everybody knows you have to do the best you can on him.

“I thought our guys gave a great effort and we had a lot of different guys give a solid effort. Our help was pretty good tonight. The guy on him has to do a good job, but the help has to be good, and we did a good job of that.”

Damien, which was just 7 of 28 in the first half, scored enough to be effective. The Spartans, keyed by Bolden’s up-tempo play, scored the first six points and led 7-2 after the first four minutes.

Damien then pushed the advantage to 18-10 with 5:10 left in the second quarter following a fast-break layups by Adams and Reyes and a 3-pointer by Kevin Mansour.

Bolden then countered four free throws from Smith with a driving five-footer to make it 20-14 at halftime.

“It felt good tonight,” Bolden said. “We just wanted to show that we’ve worked hard. We just want to show people that we’re a good team.”

The Spartans proved it to start the second half, pulling away at 27-15 following a layup and two free throws by Reyes and a 3-pointer by Bolden at 5:41 of the third quarter.

The Spartans then closed with a 7-0 run and took a 34-19 lead following a 3-pointer by Adams with four seconds left in the quarter.

“We missed a lot of easy layups in the first half,” Bolden said. “Coach just told us to make them (in the second half), and that’s what we did.”

Damien, getting 3-pointers from Bolden and Chakbazof, opened the fourth quarter with 12-4 surge to seal it.

“Our guys gave a good effort defensively tonight,” Dunn said. “The last couple of years the games we played (against Glendora) have been like this.

Damien played like champs last nite congrats to Dunn and the boys. On another note, I believe Damien now has the best athletic facilities in the valley. I was able to get over to the baseball field yetsreday and WOW, what a nice place. New seats, back stop, turf and outfield, big improvements. With the new gym, FB field and Bball field Damien is making a statement.

COChargerfan

Bonita won by around 20 pts…CO only had 13 points at the half and was down by like 18 points…a half in which Bonita played an aggressive grab and hold defense away from the ball with no calls. After halftime, the refs finally figured it out and started calling a bunch of fouls for the very same things they ignored for the first half but CO then shot like 10 for 24 from the foul line…with some of those misses being the front end of one and ones…pretty much doomed a comeback.

Not naming names but #5 for Bonita should get an Academy Award for flopping while missing 3 point shots…four times he went to the line (he made 10 of the 12 free throws) when twice the CO player never came close to contact and the other two times he literally kicked his foot out to initiate the contactreal problem with high school refs is that they are puppets that react to a kid hitting the floor instead of seeing what actually occurred. And #30, he gets best supporting actor for three flops in the lane for which you got two callsnice try on the last one but even the refs werent buying your actthe thing that I dont understand is why you didnt get whistled for a foul because YOU initiated the contactanother strange call.

And, how is it that these refs can’t recognize an illegal pick…which is pretty much the bread and butter of Bonita’s offense? Goes like this…with the ball on the left wing with player A, player B rotates from the baseline parallel to the painted area and, as he is moving, player C from the high post starts backing down his defender along the left side of the lane and calling for the ballin the process he creates open space around the free throw line and an additional pick on Player Bs defender. The problem is that there is OBVIOUSLY no passing lane from player A to C so this is just a ruse by C to open up space for A to drive the ball into or pass to a weak side cutter. Hey refs.learn the rules because ITS A MOVING SCREEN OR PICK, WHATEVER YOU WANT TO CALL IT. There is NO blocking in basketball and this is what the high post player was doing the whole nightthere was never any actual intent to feed him the ball (he didnt get it folks)he was just blocking for his teammates. Id like to know, doesnt anyone else out there that played Bonita feel the same way? Because, Ive been watching it for three years now and still dont understand how they get it over the refs. Maybe the refs have become so accustomed to it and Ecklers constant complaining whenever they get called for illegal screens and holding that they just let it go much the same as Stockton and Malone got away with that illegal pick and roll for so many years.

CO players keep your heads up, regroup for Friday night and take care of businessyoull get your rematch with Bonita in two weeks.

sgv gamer

toCOChargerfan- you sound bitter? 20 point loss is tough to put on refs. You forgot to mention the thug style from #23, 22 and others on CO? With all the no calls on CO, refs no factor, oh also forgot the 10 or so boards #30 had for BHS? Or the other 10 or more points #5 had besides the free throws. But no doubt rematch will be a tough game CO is much better than they showed & #21 is a quality player. CO still a top 10 team.

patrick tyrone

Say it isnt so…Kacey Barlow is back at Diamond Bar….18pts in opener…not bad!

Sierra League is way way down this year

Damien will go undefeated in league. Ayala is small, Chino Hills graduated all their players and Glendora is a JV team at best when Calvin takes a breather. Chino never is a factor and Diamond Bar lost their stud. Bolden is a huge offensive upgrade for Dunn at the Point and gives the Spartans three scorers and three ways to attack, Reyes in the middle, Adams from long range and Bolden slashing and running the show. Tough to see the Sierra League so down from where they were five years ago. Next year’s additions Charter Oak got beat by Bonita who beat Damien in OT and South Hills hasn’t done much since Santos left. Never thought I’d see a Glendora team and their coaches accept defeat in the third quarter but it happened last night. Damien Basketball has arrived or maybe DB, Ayala, Chino Hills Basketball Eras have gone the way of the housing market, down and out! Surprised Dunn said the last few games against Glendora have gone that way when last year’s Tartan victories were blowouts! Clearly a changing of the SL guard as Damien almost pulled off a Glendora sweep after the Freshmen lost the lead late in a close game. Bring on Chino Hills!!!

Sierra League is way way down this year

Damien will go undefeated in league. Ayala is small, Chino Hills graduated all their players and Glendora is a JV team at best when Calvin takes a breather. Chino never is a factor and Diamond Bar lost their stud. Bolden is a huge offensive upgrade for Dunn at the Point and gives the Spartans three scorers and three ways to attack, Reyes in the middle, Adams from long range and Bolden slashing and running the show. Tough to see the Sierra League so down from where they were five years ago. Next year’s additions Charter Oak got beat by Bonita who beat Damien in OT and South Hills hasn’t done much since Santos left. Never thought I’d see a Glendora team and their coaches accept defeat in the third quarter but it happened last night. Damien Basketball has arrived or maybe DB, Ayala, Chino Hills Basketball Eras have gone the way of the housing market, down and out! Surprised Dunn said the last few games against Glendora have gone that way when last year’s Tartan victories were blowouts! Clearly a changing of the SL guard as Damien almost pulled off a Glendora sweep after the Freshmen lost the lead late in a close game. Bring on Chino Hills!!!

socal hoops fan

I would not count out Chino Hills in the sierra league. They have beaten some good teams this year and I think they will split the series with Damien. Ayala is down without long time coach Gregory. This happened before when Gregory left and he had to come back to make Ayala hoops good again. Like football Chino and D-Bar will be playing for 5th place. To many D-Bar players are playing elsewhere like Chris Collins at Chino Hills. Having Barlow back will make the brahmas better.
Glendora has played a weak schedule and thus far no quality wins. In the upcoming MLK monday games they will play mightly Garey. The 2AA polls are not fooled by their record and have them at #12.

COChargerfan

SGV Gamer…Bonita uses the high post player to set illegal picks/clear outs of the defensive players and anyone with a higher level basketball IQ can see it…college and pro refs are much smarter than these high school refs which is why you don’t see teams at those levels doing this sort of thing. In fact, I haven’t seen ANY other high school team attempt to do it…perhaps they don’t because they KNOW that it is against the rules. Bonita runs it with perfect timing which probably is why the refs let it go but, nonetheless, it is illegal because there is never any attempt to pass the ball to the rolling post player and the reason why is because there is NO passing lane…which is why it is an illegal pick.

With that said, CO shot poorly including at the line and Bonita shot considerable better from both the field and line.

Just saying I’d like to see what Bonita has if they were forced to run a legal offense.

Joe Amat

COCF,

Actually the Bonita offense is very similar to the offense run by Northview (I believe Eckler is a Ron Rice disciple) and Glendora – so area referees see it often. Amat used to run something similar after your present coach (Walker) left for Chino Hills and Lokar (who was a LeDuc-ian) came in and won a CIF Championship in his first year. (have I mentioned lately that was the last upper division boys title won by an SGV school?)

What teams and officials don’t see very often anymore is an offense that actually sets solid screens – and granted, all teams above were accused of “moving screens” often. There’s so much darn dribbling that goes on today everything that resembles a screen appears illegal. Obviously , I didn’t see this specific game to claim they weren’t illegal – but it seems to be the offensive equivalent of many defensive concepts of the day. “Foul EVERY time and they’ll only call 20 of them anyway.”

COChargerfan

I’ve seen Glendora and Northview play a bunch of times over the past few years and can guarantee you that what Bonita is doing is way over the top. The high post guy acts like he wants the ball as he aggressively backs defenders out of the key area but the ball isn’t in a position to be passed to him…then they dribble behind this pick or cut a weak side player into the vacated area. It’s body-blocking, plain and simple but they “sell” it well to the refs because the timing is perfect.

Stop Whining

COFan always a complaint. You were out coaches, out played, out smarted and out hustled. Deal with it!

Joe Amat

Trust me – the Xs & Os are similar (if not the same)while I don’t doubt the execution msy reflect Coach Ecklers intense personality. Amat played Bonita and Northview this season and I watched our Lancers win a CIF title using some of that.

The key to what you wrote was “high post guy acts like he wants the ball as he aggressively backs defenders out of the key”. If he’s posting up and calling for the ball, whether it’s in a position to be thrown to him or not, he’s technically not setting a screen. If his teammates happens to rub off that at the same time – like you said ” they sell it well” & “the timing is perfect” Glendora’s been using it for years. That’s why the Murrays and Jacobsons are leading scorers in CIF History and Amat had back to back SGV Players of the Year that were highlighted in the same kind of offense.

Hard to defend.

COChargerfan

No “you” in me pal because I didn’t play in the game. But you’re right that the Bonita kids played very hard, made a bunch of clutch shots and hit most of their free throws…and they deserved to win. But, still doesn’t mean that a very large part of their “offense” isn’t built around illegal picks…because it is. And they do it all all levels so I’ve been watching it for several years…seriously, someone needs to send film to the CIF Office and ask that they instruct the refs on the rules of the game…because they are missing it. Just curious, in Bonita’s loss to Northview, did the refs call a lot of moving screens against them?

Bug Juice

Speaking of Bishop Amat, how are they going to finish in their league this year? This is always the roughest time of the year for the Lancers.

COChargerfan

Joe Amat…the “mover/blocker” offense is certainly not new but Bonita crosses the line. Because, if the ball handler dribbles in behind the moving screener or if another player cuts right behind the screener and is thrown the ball, then it’s a moving screen or illegal pick, whatever you want to call it, as the defender of the high post player doesn’t have a chance to rotate to the ball. The NFHS rule book states that if a screener wants to set a screen on a moving defender, they must allow enough time and distance for the defender to avoid the screenand this is not happening as the Bonita player is making contact via backing down the defender. It is the initiation of contact by the Bonita post player and their moving their position to keep the defensive player on their back that makes it illegal. And, the post player moves parallel to the paint border and another offensive player rubs off on himoften taking out his defender toothis is all done with the post players back to the moving players and while hes calling for the ball which is the ruse that Bonita uses to make this appear legal. Without a doubt, if the Bonita post guy turned and faced the defenders and did this stuff hed foul out in the first quarterso doing it with your back to the defenders is the selling jobregardless, it is an illegal pick because the post player is not in any sort of position to actually receive the ball and his purpose is to clear space for his teammates. Works in football but is not legal on the basketball court.

WAH,WAH,WAH

COCF,
Let it go man. Can’t you just say CO got out hustled and now we know what to do the next time we play Bonita . Explain this, what is the difference in not naming names but then you go and print the kids number on the blog. Might as well print his name , it’s the same thing. Can’t you ever except the fact that sometimes you are wrong or maybe even consider you may be mistaken.

huskydog

Gee, the team that just graduated all of its players have only won two SGV holiday tournaments and have beaten Amat, Tesoro, Bonita, Orange Lutheran, Northview and now Damien tonight! 53-46.

Too bad it’s a down year for Chino Hills! It’s looking like a FOURTH consecutive Sierra League title in basketball.

COChargerfan

Funny how some warped folks chose to attack the messenger calling them names such whiner, crybaby or some other kind of miscreant instead of answering the questionso pal, answer the questiondoes or does not Bonita do exactly what Im saying? For everyone that has any kind of b-ball IQ, the correct answer is that they do so the next question isis it against the rules? And remember, this is not your or my own set of rules but the NFHS rule which requires time and distance. If you want to post a comment then why dont you answer the question instead of calling names? And the question isnt the outcome of the CO vs. Bonita game but, instead, whether Bonitas offense is legal or not

Ive seen both teams play and Im not only not surprised that that Chino Hills handled Damien, but it was expected.

Brahma93

Seems Kacey Barlow is making a BIG difference for the Brahmas…. Lost to Glendora 51-48! Not bad !

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